One is Sarah Palin vs The N.Y. Times.
The other is Roy Moore vs Lea Corfman.
TimLennox.com, since 2007. Politics, Civil Rights, Science, Sociology, Photography, Media + more!
The most Popular Posts of the past seven days.
Jan 22, 2022
I posted this photo on Facebook the other day...bet you didn't know I used to have jet black hair or that I spoke elephant!
Lee Hall, a news guy who worked for WSGN in Birmingham, WERC's competition, took the photo as we both covered the arrival of the circus train downtown...probably in the early 1980's.
Monday's The Final stop for The Web space telescope
from a great CBS story:
"....a 4-minute 58-second course correction thruster firing is planned Monday at 2 p.m. EST to change the spacecraft's velocity by 3.4 mph, just enough to put it in a distant orbit around Lagrange Point 2.*"
If all goes well, the telescope will remain in that six-month orbit for the rest of its operational life, firing its thruster periodically to remain on station."
*...2, 930,000 miles from Earth where the gravity of sun and Earth combine to form a pocket of stability that allows spacecraft to remain in place with a minimum expenditure of fuel.
NASA has a page dedicated to showing just where the space telescope is at any given moment during its journey...and how long and far it has yet to travel to reach Lagrance Point 2.
The Limits of Biden's Power
From a column by Paul Waldman in today's Washington Post, explaining how tentative President Biden's political power is:
In fact, in the entire history of his party, going all the way back to its founding in the early 19th century and the presidency of Andrew Jackson, no Democratic president has come into office with congressional majorities as small as Biden’s. Not one.
Three Montgomery Manufacturred Hyundai Models Recalled
The CarBuzz website is reporting a recall that impacts three Hyundai models made at the Montgomery plant. The windshield could fall out in the event of a crash.
"If you are currently in possession of a 2020 or 2021 Hyundai Santa Fe, 2021 Sonata, or 2021 Elantra, a recall has been issued for a defect about the windscreen. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, these three cars suffer from inadequate windshield bonding which could increase the risk of injury in the event of a collision."
Jan 21, 2022
Poem: Gone
All of us
will be forgotten.
Not if, but when.
Stones dissolve, their engravings gone.
Paper perishes,
and memories fade.
Love them today, and make sure they know it.
Moving Indonesia's Capitol city: Shades of Alabama
As you may have heard, Indonesia is moving its capitol from Jakarta to a virtually uninhabited jungle. And the reason for the move is similar to Alabama's decision to move away from the early capitol site of Cahaba to Montgomery in the early 1800's:
The capital was moved from the town, located in the bend where the Alabama and Cahaba rivers meet, because of severe flooding in 1825 and residents gradually abandoned the site.
Meanwhile in Indonesia:
Jakarta " sits on swampy land, the Java Sea lapping against it, and 13 rivers running through it. So it shouldn't be a surprise that flooding is frequent in Jakarta and, according to experts, it is getting worse. But it's not just about freak floods, this massive city is literally disappearing into the ground.
Jakarta is an Asian mega-city with 10 million people, or 30 million including those in its greater metropolitan area. It is prone to earthquakes and flooding and is rapidly sinking because of uncontrolled extraction of ground water. The water and rivers are highly contaminated. Congestion is estimated to cost the economy $6.5 billion a year.
Moving THAT capitol is expected to cost billions, though as the BBC reported, other countries have moved their capitals.
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| Love the "Indians" reference. NOT an official Historic sign. |
The old Alabama capitol of Cahawba is not much to look at these days, but worth a visit! more info HERE.
There are predictions that Jakarta will be mostly underwater in the coming decades.
Jan 20, 2022
Media: Imagine if Alabama Public Radio and The Montgomery Advertiser merged....
So far as I know, nobody has proposed that merger, but a similar, though much larger deal, is happening in Chicago, as The Washington Post reported:
Chicago is one of the nation’s largest media markets, and WBEZ — which started in the 1940s as an arm of the Chicago Board of Education — is where some of public radio’s most notable programs were formed, including “This American Life,” “Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell Me” and “Serial.”
The Sun-Times has also been publishing since the 1940s. It is known as much for its hard-hitting tabloid-like coverage as its eight Pulitzer prizes — and being the longtime home of celebrated film critic Roger Ebert. Lately, however, it has endured the same financial tumult as many other local newspapers.
Why would a merger in Montgomery be of interest to The Advertiser? They've been cutting back in many ways ever before the paper became part of Gannett.
Most recently Gannett announced they will no longer publish and deliver a Saturday newspaper in 136 of the 253 markets in which they own a paper, including Montgomery. That will end their reign as the largest daily newspaper in Alabama when the Saturday paper goes away in March.
Dramatic as that cutback will be, the step taken in Chicago would be much, much larger were it to occur in Montgomery.
But who knows? Alabama Public Radio is a big operation, with multiple stations:
Now most of those Alabama public stations would not likely be interested in owning or operating a Montgomery-centric newspaper.
Then again, what would you have said a month ago if I told you the public radio station in Chicago would own The Chicago Sun-Times?
Jan 19, 2022
Don't Forget!
The State has already received some 500-Million from the plan. But the Alabama Congressional delegation, U.S. House and U.S. Senate, voted against it, with one exception.
U.S. Senate vote:
Alabama:
Shelby (R-AL), Nay
Tuberville (R-AL), Nay
Final Vote: 50-49
U.S. House vote:
| Aderholt | Republican | Nay | |
| Brooks | Republican | Nay | |
| Carl | Republican | Nay | |
| Moore (AL) | Republican | Nay | |
| Palmer | Republican | Nay | |
| Rogers (AL) | Republican | Nay | |
| Sewell | Democratic | Yea |
Just remember that vote when those federal dollars are used here in Alabama.
And will someone ask Republican Governor Ivey about it please?
Her comment so far? She blames Congress & The White House:
“While states like Alabama are making record economic comebacks, Congress and the Biden White House are wanting our country to spend more and more federal dollars, (THOUGH YOU COULD JUST RETURN THE MONEY!) and now we are tasked with allocating the American Rescue Plan Act funds. I have made clear, that unlike Washington, D.C.,(WHICH PROVIDED THE MONEY!) Alabama will be wise with these one-time, federal dollars."
WHAT???
Explain please, Governor?
Jan 18, 2022
Covid tests
Here is the Federal Government website for four free Covid tests per household:
And get vaccinated if you have not already done so!
The New Space Telescope is oh so close to its parking spot!
According to the excellent NASA tracking page, just over 65,000 miles away from the "L2" spot where it will stay...a stable place in space. And it is moving at 0.1599 miles a second....about 5.5 days to go.
Project scientists have frankly been amazed, and pleased, with the smoothness of the mission so far!
More Africans were shipped as slaves to a South American Country than to the U.S.
The Washington Post has the story of the slave trade to Brazil:
At the height of the transatlantic slave trade, nearly 1 million enslaved Africans arrived on its cobbled stones, likely more than anywhere else in the world, and twice as many as were trafficked to all of the United States. UNESCO has called the wharf, discovered in 2011 during an urban renovation project, a “unique and exceptional” place that “carries enormous historical as well as spiritual importance to African Americans.”
Jan 17, 2022
MLK & Vietnam
"King was foremost a minister who pastored to a local church throughout his career, even while he was doing national civil rights work. And he became concerned that his political ally Johnson was making a grave moral mistake in Vietnam. Johnson quickly escalated American troop presence in Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000 in 1965. And by 1968, more than a half a million troops were stationed in the Southeast Asian nation."
From an article on the Asia Times website about MLK's activism against the Vietnam War, which resulted in the deaths of some 53,000 Americans.
Overt racism was typical in American bases in Vietnam. Although initially uncommon at the start of the war, after the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., overt racism occurred at a higher rate.[3] Following the assassination, some White troops at Cam Ranh Base wore Ku Klux Klan robes and paraded around the base.[6][11]: 183 At least three instances of cross burning were confirmed to have happened.[12] Da Nang Air Base flew the Confederate flag for three days in response.[12][6] In addition to being used in response to King's murder, Confederate flags and icons were commonly painted on jeeps, tanks, and helicopters; bathroom graffiti proclaimed that African Americans, not the Vietnamese, were the real enemy. Black troops were discouraged from taking pride in Black identity, with one troop ordered to remove a "Black is beautiful" poster from his locker.[6] Following complaints from African American soldiers, Confederate flags were briefly banned but soon allowed after resistance from Southern politicians objected.[3] Black identity publications and speeches were restricted, with some commanders banning recordings of speeches by Malcolm X or the newspaper The Black Panther.[11] Despite segregation being abolished in the military, it still affected troops.[8]
(From a Wikipedia article HERE)
(Note: I write this post as a Vietnam Veteran 1970-1971. Tim Lennox.)
Grammar Rule
STOP SAYING "THERE'S".
The odds are you are using it incorrectly.
I hear the misuse on network news, in commercials, and just about everywhere.
"There's" is a contraction for "THERE IS". It MUST have a singular object of the verb.
NOT There's hundreds of cars on the lot.
NOT There's three bikes on the lawn.
NOT There's 500 legislators attending the meeting.
Some actual examples:
“There’s several things I want to do right out of the gate.”
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